Harpenden school receives planning permission for new Sixth Form block

Members of St Albans City & District Council’s planning committee voted to approve the plans for Katherine Warington School at a meeting last week (Monday, June 8).

The two-storey block will include three new classrooms, as well as a social and study area for Sixth Formers, and will allow the Sixth Form’s capacity to rise from 250 to 400. 

Councillors had previously voted in favour of the application last July, but a legal issue relating to the site’s leasehold meant that organisational changes to a travel plan were necessary.

The school is on a Green Belt site on Lower Luton Road – but planning officers said it should be classed as Grey Belt because it does not “strongly contribute” to the purposes of the Green Belt. 

A plan of the first floor for a proposed new Sixth Form block at Katherine Warington School in Harpenden.

When the school’s Sixth Form opened in 2024, 88 students enrolled out of 234 who had submitted applications and 190 who were accepted.

The school said low take-up was due to “other schools having dedicated Sixth Form provision”.

But district council planning officers said there is a “demonstrable unmet need” for more classrooms at the school, with data suggesting “the number of Sixth Form pupils [is] outstripping the number of available places across the existing schools in Harpenden”.

Christopher Martin, school planning manager at Hertfordshire County Council, said the upper-tier authority is “fully supportive” of the plans, which will “assist with meeting local demand for Sixth Form provision in Harpenden and surrounding areas for the foreseeable future”.

District council officers accepted that “there is forecasted demand for additional Sixth Form places within Harpenden”, and national planning guidance says “great weight should be given” to expanding Sixth Forms.

With the site classed as Grey Belt by officers, the development is classed as an “appropriate development” that does not require “very special circumstances” to be shown for permission to be granted.

A plan of the ground floor for a proposed new sixth form block at Katherine Warington School in Harpenden

Officers concluded, however, that even if the site was not classed as Grey Belt, “very special circumstances” did exist that would “clearly outweigh the harm” caused to Green Belt openness by the new building.

They added that the site is seen as “accessible and sustainable … within easy walking access of existing public transport routes”. 

Hertfordshire Highways did not object to the application.